Man charged with plotting terror attack
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri man is accused of plotting a Presidents Day jihadi terrorist attack on buses, trains and a train station in Kansas City.
Robert Lorenzo Hester Jr., 25, of Columbia, was charged in U.S. District Court of Kansas City with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
The charges were the culmination of a monthslong FBI investigation during which Mr. Hester allegedly expressed his willingness to assist in what he believed was an Islamic State plan to cause mass casualties in an attack on U.S. soil. During the investigation, undercover FBI employees posing as Islamic State operatives met with Mr. Hester on numerous occasions.
Puerto Rico austerity
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The head of a federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances warned on Tuesday that the U.S. territory will be hit with painful austerity measures in upcoming months.
Interim Director Ramon Ruiz said there are no other options given the island’s dire economic situation and recommended that the government act quickly.
Gov. Ricardo Rossello has until next Tuesday to submit a revised fiscal plan that will outline where the cuts will be made and what essential services will be affected.
Yiannopoulos quits site
Milo Yiannopoulos, the incendiary writer and commentator who helped make Breitbart News a leading organ of the “alt-right,” resigned from the news organization Tuesday after a video of him endorsing pedophilia surfaced online.
Mr. Yiannopoulos’ writing has offended women, Muslims, black people and gay people ever since former Breitbart executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon hired him as a senior editor in 2014. Mr. Bannon, now President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, championed Mr. Yiannopoulos’ inflammatory commentary and promoted him as a conservative truth teller.
Oregon standoff trial
PORTLAND, Ore. — The federal prosecutors who failed to convict Ammon Bundy returned to court Tuesday to try four men who followed Mr. Bundy’s call to take a hard stand against the government and occupy a national wildlife refuge in Oregon.
The primary charge facing the men is conspiracy to impede Interior Department employees from doing their jobs at the refuge through the use of force, threats or intimidation.
Planned Parenthood
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge Tuesday indefinitely blocked Texas officials from ousting Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid health care provider, dealing a blow to Republican-led efforts to enforce stricter abortion-related policy.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday evening.
Also in the nation...
The Army Corps of Engineers said it won’t extend a Wednesday deadline for Dakota Access oil pipeline opponents to vacate their encampment on federal land in North Dakota. ... A Capitol Hill controversy over a student painting portraying police and protesters as animals moved to the federal courts Tuesday when a Missouri congressman said its removal from the U.S. Capitol walls violated the young artist’s right to free speech. ... Philadelphia’s tax on sweetened beverages is already taking a toll on drink distributors and grocers, with some reporting sales drops as high as 50 percent.